The Man Inside
by Tarafina
Summary: He wonders why he bothered hoping, only to find that while death was inevitable, it was worth it. :Rogan:


**Title**: The Man Inside  
**Category**: The X-Men Movie  
**Rating**: T  
**Genre**: Angst/Romance  
**Ship**: Logan/Marie (Wolverine/Rogue)  
**Word Count**: 1,163  
**Prompt**: Seconds  
**Summary**: He wonders why he bothered hoping, only to find that while death was inevitable, it was worth it.

**_The Man Inside  
_**-1/1-

He gets déjà vu at the exact moment she slips away from him. He's holding her in the middle of a dark, empty street. Her blood is everywhere and she's white as a sheet as she lays prone in his arms, still staring up at him with those big brown eyes of hers. Her previously deadly skin is soft and unblemished; he keeps trying to stroke her face, cup her cheek, shake her arm, hoping it'll kick in and rob him of his breath, his thoughts, giving her everything until she's struggling to live again.

In seconds she was taken, before he could blink, react, do anything more than scream at the interruption of a mutant bounty hunter appearing and disappearing with as much grandiose flare as dirt. The glint of metal caught his eyes and his claws were out but it'd been plunged deep into her heart before her laughter had even died from her face.

He caught her as she was falling, admantium claws still out, tearing her flowery dress a little. She frowned, her face scrunching up.

"This was new," she murmured, like she was trying to chastise him at the worst possible moment.

"Hell kid, I'll get you a new one."

She laughed, a gurgle more than her usual sweet giggle. "Logan..." Her lips pursed as if she was trying to hold back an agonized whimper. "Ah-Ah can't really... Ah can't feel anythin', sugah..."

The concrete beneath them was hard, wet, and she looked out of place here. So soft and beautiful, surrounded by a dirty street and the haunting shadows that crept by uncaring.

He had his biking gloves off and his hand against her face, her neck, felt a spark but then... nothing.

He remembered finding her in the back of his truck all those years ago. Back when she fit the nickname 'Kid.' She wasn't anymore. In seconds he'd chosen to help her and just as quick, he'd come to care for her. And now, in that same amount of time, he was losing her. And it wasn't him running off again for some life-altering, memory-gaining search, no. This was real; this was permanent. And that aching pain he'd felt so long ago when she'd first lay like this, on top of a building where her life was being exchanged for mutant supremacy, compared nothing to right now.

Tears squeezed out from her eyes and she let out a shuddering breath; forfeit.

He wanted to yell at her, shake her until she refused to just lie down and take it. But her breathing was hollowing out and his heart was pounding in his chest fiercely, rebelling.

Twelve minutes ago, they'd been eating at some run-down Chinese joint that looked entirely below her standards. She looked too good for the place in her little dress with her pink cheeks glowing, just happy to be out with him, not caring where they were. The menus were grease spotted and even the sparse cost of the food wasn't enough to make him feel any better about having her eat it. His stomach could take anything, but the mere smell of what was cooking could take the paint of most walls. She didn't mind though, she held his hand on top of the table; hers so soft and small and pale compared to his gruff, muscle hand swamping hers. She smiled sweetly at the server, didn't mind that he was curt with her, and pretended the food was half-decent.

On their way home, she twirled around in the street like she was a little girl coming home from the carnival; bursting with energy and happy to show it. He shook his head at her innocence, even if deep down he wished he had some of it. She grabbed his hands, asking for him to join her and he just raised his signature brow. Like hell he was gonna dance around in some street like some pansy - 'sides, he enjoyed watching her rather than making a goof out of himself. And she just smiled at him like she could read his mind before she continued dancing circles all around him, humming under her breath.

They were two blocks from the motel room they were staying in. Another's day's ride until they hit the town they'd both agreed to settle down in. At least for a few months, see how things went. It was quiet, out of the way and the locals didn't ask many questions; just the kind of place they'd fit in.

He can't remember how she convinced him to take her along; musta been those eyes of hers, they were always playing tricks on him. One minute he's calling her Kid, telling her to stay put for her own safety, next he's bundling her up in his arms and whisking away into his world. And she fits, oddly enough. For all her soft curves and sweet smiles, she's got a place in his arms and cuddled up next to him in the too-hard bed they find in each and every crap hotel to stay in. She smooths away his frowns and laughs off his grunts and she snuggles deeper into hard muscle and her own personal admantium killing machine, reminding them both that after everything he's just a man and she's just a woman and somehow, in this fucked up reality, they managed to find each other and make it work.

But then he takes her hand, the blinking Motel sign in view, and he tugs her toward him, wanting that innocent woman up close and personal.

"Com'ere," he grunts, and she laughs knowingly. But before her dress even stops twirling around her legs, there's a _pop_ and a thrust of an arm, a plunging knife, and nothing but the stench of smoke and the bitter taste of blood as she falls from her pedestal of loveliness.

Some part of his mind takes that specific powerdery scent, vows revenge before she's even stopped breathing. Because that part of him knows she's gone; that feral darkness that slinks out and waits to take over can already feel her heart slowing and knows it's only a matter of seconds.

"M'rie," he grunts, voice hoarse and he's staring at her with tears in his eyes. The tears of a man who just wanted to hold her; just wanted to live his life in some out-of-the-way place with nothing to worry about except keeping her happy and safe. And that's gone now and he wonders why he ever bothered hoping in the first place.

She lifts a hand, strokes his rough mutton chop tenderly and smiles up at him, reminding him in that blinding moment _exactly _why he took that chance and much as he wants to, he can't regret it. And so in the same amount of seconds, as her breath gives its last whisper, the man inside him dies with her, replaced by the beast who will now and forever reign.


End file.
